We’re no fashion expert, but we’re fairly certain that the clothes at Nicky Hilton’s Bryant Park show on Sunday were…bad. Ms. Hilton’s new line, Nicholai, had no unifying theme except shortness, and looked in moments to have been plucked from the sale rack at Forever 21. There was a white St. Tropez-looking bikini The Transom thought was hot, worn with a do-rag by leggy model Caroline Trentini, but it was soon cancelled out by an outfit involving a boxy green metallic blazer that can only be described as Star-Trek-at-the-disco. Almost everything involved sequins. And half of it, you couldn’t imagine Ms. Hilton would wear herself.

But a Nicky Hilton fashion show isn’t really about the clothes anyway, and the front row didn’t disappoint. Instead of Kate Bosworth and Demi Moore, we had Jenna Jameson and Brandon Davis, but hey, this was different! Also spotted were Russell Simmons, Trevor Rains and Richie Rich of Heatherette, Arden Wohl, Amanda Hearst, and Olivia Palermo. We spied no Vogue editors (though on Friday at Sabyasaschi we’d heard a publicist imploring Meredith Melling Burke to come, or at least send someone).

Parents Rick and Kathy, seated front row, seemed almost unable to contain their pride. “We’re over the moon!” Kathy told The Transom moments before the show started. Nicky, she said, had spent the day “pacing. She was up in our hotel room, we were in hers… She’s just so excited!” Rick, meanwhile, wore a staid gray suit and filmed nearly everything on his camera, from the other people in the front row to the models. A few seats down, Ms. Wohl, wearing what looked to be a large diamond bracelet on her head, talked up Mr. Simmons (oh, to have been a fly on that green t-shirt). Across the runway, Mr. Davis had his cell phone attached to his ear. The only thing missing, really, was the other Ms. Hilton.

“I was really pleasantly surprised,” said Ms. Palermo aftewards, adding that she had especially liked the blazers. “It’s been wonderful,” she said of Fashion Week more generally. “I haven’t been racing all around, I’ve been very selective, and what I’ve seen has been quite good.”

And what has been the best? “The Tommy Hilfiger party, and the Ports 1961 show!” she said, hastening to add: “And Nicky.”